The body includes various passageways including blood vessels such as arteries, and other body lumens. These passageways sometimes become occluded or weakened. For example, they can be occluded by a tumor, restricted by plaque, or weakened by an aneurysm. When this occurs, the passageway can be reopened or reinforced, or even replaced, with a medical endoprosthesis. An endoprosthesis is an artificial implant that is typically placed in a passageway or lumen in the body. Many endoprostheses are tubular members, examples of which include stents, stent-grafts, and covered stents.
Many endoprostheses can be delivered inside the body by a catheter. Typically the catheter supports a reduced-size or compacted form of the endoprosthesis as it is transported to a desired site in the body, for example the site of weakening or occlusion in a body lumen. Upon reaching the desired site the endoprosthesis is installed so that it can contact the walls of the lumen.
One method of installation involves expanding the endoprosthesis. The expansion mechanism used to install the endoprosthesis may include forcing it to expand radially. For example, the expansion can be achieved with a catheter that carries a balloon in conjunction with a balloon-expandable endoprosthesis reduced in size relative to its final form in the body. The balloon is inflated to deform and/or expand the endoprosthesis in order to fix it at a predetermined position in contact with the lumen wall. The balloon can then be deflated, and the catheter withdrawn.
In another delivery technique, the endoprosthesis is formed of an elastic material that can be reversibly compacted and expanded (e.g., elastically or through a reversible phase transition of its constituent material). Before and during introduction into the body until it reaches the desired implantation site, the endoprosthesis is restrained in a compacted condition. Upon reaching the desired site, the restraint is removed, for example by retracting a restraining device such as an outer sheath, enabling the endoprosthesis to self-expand by its own internal elastic restoring force.
To support or keep a passageway open, endoprostheses are sometimes made of relatively strong materials, such as stainless steel or Nitinol (a nickel-titanium alloy), formed into struts or wires. The material from which an endoprosthesis is made can impact not only the way in which it is installed, but its lifetime and efficacy within the body.